Flying creatures and positive features

The monarchs are out in force right now!  With temperatures still in the 80s and the milkweed in full bloom, butterflies are really happy.

Positively giddy!

Here are the milkweed flowers they love, looking like tiny ballerinas.

Halloween is just around the corner, and it certainly felt like orange and black were the colors of the day on our recent hike.  First you have those brightly-colored monarch butterflies...and then, the spiky-backed ladybug nymphs...

...and finally, the milkweed bug, keeping the color theme going strong.

Does yellow and black count?

I also noticed another theme...babies!  Here's a group of eggs that I think belong to the southern stink bug...

...and if you can handle it...a huge spider egg sac!

If you look closely, you can see all the babies!

I think these two are going to be producing some of those babies really soon!

He's not an ostrich, but this anole was pretty sure that we couldn't see him.

We did catch a glimpse of a bolder fellow.

Here's another unseen creature...a slug.  He left a silvery trail on our cobblestones, but I have yet to catch him in the act!

And another cagey fellow - this spittlebug, hiding under his clever protection.

Here at home, I've been doing a little baking.  Spicy pumpkin whoopie pies!  The recipe is in the Sally's Cookie Adventure cookbook and they are the most delicious whoopie pies I've ever had. 

Sugar cookie bars with cinnamon chips and buttercream frosting, also from the same cookbook.

Official Halloween baking begins TOMORROW!

Speaking of Halloween, I just finished a quick quilting project.  I had the idea to make quilted Halloween banner flags to hang up this week.  I used Hocus Pocus fabric from Moda and a pattern from my Farm Girl Vintage book.  The squares were 6.5" x 6.5".

I was just winging the flag design and made several mistakes before deciding to sew banner jags onto the bottoms.  So, they look a bit like little teeth...

...but they sure feel festive!

Another project is a positivity plan I started about a month ago.  I started writing positive sayings on a white board in the kitchen, but they soon devolved into corny jokes, puns, and cartoons.

Some I make up (SNARK-EOLOGIST!!) and some I crib from the internet.  It's so much fun...I think I get a bigger kick out of them than Todd does!  Hopefully I have enough material to keep the white board humerus humorous for at least another month!

Have a great week!